The present invention relates to ibuprofen compositions, more specifically to ibuprofen compositions with reduced throat burn characteristics.
Many flavors and sweeteners have been added to medication in order to make them more palatable and to mask the unpleasant taste and aftertaste which is common with many medications. Certain medicinal ingredients, in addition to having an unpleasant taste, create a burning or scratching sensation in the throat when swallowed. Flavors and sweeteners do little to overcome this throat burning sensation. Despite numerous efforts to find an effective means to eliminate this burn, there is a continuing need for a method to effectively eliminate the burning sensation with medications, preferably the burn can be reduced to a level such that a chewable composition can be provided.
Ibuprofen is a well known medication which possesses an unpalatable burning sensation in the mouth and throat after ingestion.
Japanese Patent Application 9 (1997)-2949 assigned to American Home Products attempts to eliminate the unpalatable aftertaste by providing only one enantiomer. The patent application discloses the separation of ibuprofen from its racemic mixture to form an orally administered drug composition which contains only the S(+)-ibuprofen and essentially no R(−)-ibuprofen. While this approach may provide a more palatable form of ibuprofen the separation and isolation of the enantiomers are difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,855 discloses a method of masking the taste of ibuprofen by granulating with polyvinylpyrrolidone, sodium starch glycolate and sodium lauryl sulfate and coating the resulting granules with hydroxyethyl cellulose or a mixture of hydroxyethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. While resulting in a significant taste improvement, this method has been found not to completely eliminate the “throat burn” associated with ibuprofen in chewable dosage forms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,702 discloses ibuprofen particles enveloped by a coating of hydrocolloid film, containing fumaric acid. The hydrocolloid performs the function of connecting the water insoluble ibuprofen particles to the sparingly soluble fumaric acid for use in a powder for reconstitution in liquid. The preferred hydrocolloid composition comprises xantham gum and/or maltodextrin. The amount of the fumaric acid is 10% of the amount of the ibuprofen, and from about 0.46% to about 0.64% of the total formula. The patent discloses this method as reducing the tendency of ibuprofen to irritate the esophagus and gastrointestinal tract.
Despite the disclosures of the above patents and application, a simpler and less costly method for providing a tastemasked ibuprofen composition with reduced throat burn is still desired.